1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heaters and more particularly pertains to a new heating apparatus for heating rigid plastic pipe for the purpose of bending and forming the pipe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of heaters is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,289 describes a gas-supplied pipe heater. Another type of heater is U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,760 which discloses a pipe heater having a heat sink pipe segment open at both ends with a resistance heating element wrapped around the exterior of the pipe segment.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device which more evenly heats the pipe.
The present invention meets the needs presented above by incorporating a dispersion plate above the burner member that has two rows of staggered holes spaced apart, and is sized such that there is a gap around the perimeter edge so that the heat flows through the holes and also around the plate.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new heating apparatus that that is specifically designed to be portable for use in the field and can be fueled by a standard propane tank such as those utilized for a typical gas grill.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new heating apparatus that is large enough to accommodate longer length pipes permitting the use of larger radii bends, thereby expediting subsequent pulling operations, and by using the pipe support members in the interior also accommodates the shorter pipes.
To this end, the present invention generally comprises an elongate housing that has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, a first end wall, and a second end wall to define an interior. Each of the end walls has a pipe hole for permitting a user to insert rigid plastic pipe through the interior. An elongate burner member burns combustible gas to produce heat and is mounted to the housing and is positioned in the interior proximate to the bottom wall. A valve assembly regulates a flow of the gas to the burner member. An elongate burner plate disperses the heat generated by the burner member and is positioned above the burner member. A plurality of pipe support members support the pipe above the burner plate while positioned in the interior of the housing. An elongate cover member selectively covers the opening to the interior of the housing.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.